92-year-old man dies after three-car crash on Route 206 in Flanders

MOUNT OLIVE — A three-car crash on Route 206 Thursday sent a car's passenger hurling into its windshield and fatally injuring him.

The passenger, 92-year-old Fred Wagner of Chester, died after being transported to Morristown Medical Center by helicopter, police said in a news release issued Friday.

Just before 10 a.m., police received multiple 911 calls about the three-car crash, near the entrance to a business complex at 230 Route 206, police said.

One driver, 65-year-old James Davis of Plainfield, operating a 2008 Ford Econoline van, had stopped in the northbound lane for a vehicle that was turning left into a business, police said, citing an initial investigation. Another driver, 58-year-old Richard Fincher of Long Valley, operating a 1998 Chrysler Town and Country minivan, also had stopped in the northbound lane of travel for the traffic, police said.

But a 1992 Volvo, operated by 88-year-old Alice Howard of Chester, was proceeding north on Route 206 and was unable to stop before striking the vehicles that were stopped in traffic, police said.

Wagner had been a front-seat passenger in Howard's Volvo, and wasn't wearing a seatbelt, police said. He was thrown from his seat and made contact with the windshield and front console, police said. Wagner was flown by Atlantic Air-1 to Morristown Medical Center; Howard and Fincher were also separately transported to Morristown Medical Center, police said. The news release didn't specify the extent of their injuries.

Mount Olive police later learned Wagner had died, police said.

The crash is still being investigated by Mount Olive Police, the news release said. No summonses have yet been issued, it said.

The police department was assisted by members of the Flanders Fire and First Aid Squad, the Hackettstown Regional Medical Center ambulance, and paramedics from St. Clare's hospital, it said.